Of bicycles and baking

For the sodden cyclists on this annual Truro ride, Jane Rickard's steaming kettles and traybakes (and flapjacks, and biscuits, and pasties …) were a sight for sore eyes

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A spread for soaked cyclists. Photographs: James Bowden for the Guardian All photos by James Bowden/Guardian

What was the occasion?Our cycling club has been going for 25 years, and this was our annual randonnée event. It's a day-long ride, with a choice of three circuits over 42, 64 or 100 miles, starting and finishing in Truro.

It's open to anybody and we always have a real mixture of people taking part. One of our staunch regulars has been on every ride for the past 25 years, but then we also had a 14‑year‑old boy who'd never ridden with the club before who did the full 100-mile circuit, which was really impressive.

There are plenty of homemade treats along the way. I've been doing the tea for about 15 years now. I spent the day in the middle of Goss moor, under a gazebo with a trestle table, a couple of kettles and lots of cakes.

We were expecting about 80 people, but only about 17 turned up, because the weather was so awful! There was a small, 20-minute window when the rain let up, but otherwise it just rained all day. Riders on the longer circuits passed through twice, so we witnessed them getting wetter and wetter. But everyone who rode felt great at the end of the course.

What snacks did you serve?Lots of flapjacks, a lemon drizzle cake, raspberry and almond slices, various fruitcakes, traybakes, chocolate brownies – anything with a lot of calories in! That's the joy of cycling of course: you get to eat cake. We also had bananas and homemade cheese biscuits, which went down very well. There was lots of tea and coffee to wash it all down, and then Cornish pasties from WC Rowe, a local baker, at the finish line.

What did you talk about?The weather, obviously! And about cycling in general, but also things like wild flowers, birds and theatre groups. Despite being soaked to the bone, everyone was in good spirits. The cakes definitely helped.

Raspberry and flaked almond slices

The nuts in this traybake provide a smidgeon of protein for the riders. We took a sugar sifter with us to add a dusting of icing sugar to the cakes, but the effect was somewhat random, owing to the strong winds.

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and line a 30 x 20cm baking tin with parchment.

2 Place the flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar into the food processor and blend to a fine crumble. Add the eggs and almond extract and blend quickly. Spread the mix over the base of the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes.

3 Remove from the oven, carefully place raspberries over the base and sprinkle flaked almonds over the top. Return to the oven and bake for another 15 mins, until firm to the touch and the almonds are just toasted.

4 Cool in the tin. Sift a little icing sugar on top, cut into 5cm squares and serve.

Lemon drizzle slices

This recipe has been passed down and around. It's easy to make and always pleases. It's also easy to cut into bite-size pieces. We don't do plates and forks on the moor!